Rhode Island's 2026 multiple-felony expungement law
The new law says that, even if you are not a first offender, "any person who has been convicted of more than one felony, but fewer than five (5) felonies, and has not been convicted of a crime of violence, or other prohibited offenses, may file a motion for the expungement of any or all of those felonies."
So the count is two, three, or four. Five or more is still outside the law.
The fifteen-year wait, twice over
The waiting period: fifteen years "from the date of the completion of their last sentence" — the most recent one, not the oldest.
The clean period: in the fifteen years before you file, you must not have been convicted or arrested for any felony or misdemeanor. You must have no criminal proceedings pending, and you must have exhibited good character.
Both have to be satisfied. Someone whose last sentence closed three years ago has not met the first, even if nothing has happened since.
Every fine, fee, cost and assessment on those cases has to be paid before the court will grant the motion. The fifteen years run from the completion of your last sentence, and a sentence with money still owing on it is not complete.
The one-grant rule: read this before you choose what to file
The new subsection ends with a sentence that is easy to miss and expensive to miss: "Said person shall not be eligible to expunge the remainder of felony offenses otherwise not prohibited after a successful expungement subject to other provisions of this section."
What ends the path is a successful expungement, not a filing. A motion that is denied is not what the sentence bars.
But once the court grants a motion on this path, the felonies you left out stay. Deciding which felonies to include is the single most consequential choice on this path, and it is not one to make by instinct.
What the multiple-felony path excludes
A crime of violence closes this path. The same act also created a second list — "other prohibited offenses" — which is separate from crimes of violence and closes this path just as firmly.
It includes assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling house; assaults on the elderly, on people with severe impairments and on children causing serious bodily injury; cruelty to or neglect of a child; Brendan's Law; child endangerment; an offense against a victim who is a minor; every weapons offense in the weapons chapter; the entire human trafficking chapter; failing to stop after an accident causing personal injury; driving so as to endanger resulting in death; and DUI resulting in death.
On top of that, this path separately excludes DUI, chemical-test refusal, and domestic violence offenses.
The grant is still up to the judge
The 2026 act also changed what the judge weighs. The court must still find rehabilitation and that expungement is consistent with the public interest.
But the law now tells the judge they "may consider the person's background, employment, community ties and involvement in their community and other relevant considerations," that "[n]o one factor ... shall be determinative," and that the judge may consider "overall rehabilitative progress since their conviction."
That is a hearing you prepare for, not one you show up to.
If you were told no before last summer
Ask the question again. The answer changed, the published General Laws have been slow to catch up, and a great many people are walking around with a correct answer to a question that is no longer the law.
The law behind this page
- The two-to-four-felony path and the one-grant rule: R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-1.3-2(c), added by P.L. 2026 (H 7079 Sub A / S 3036 Sub A), signed June 22, 2026.
- Fifteen years from the completion of your last sentence: § 12-1.3-2(h).
- Fifteen clean years, nothing pending, good character: § 12-1.3-3(b)(1)(iv).
- Crimes of violence: § 12-1.3-1(1).
- Other prohibited offenses: § 12-1.3-1(6), including assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling house (§ 11-5-4) and the weapons chapter (chapter 11-47).
- DUI (§ 31-27-2), refusal (§ 31-27-2.1) and domestic offenses (chapter 12-29) excluded: § 12-1.3-2(c).
- What the judge may consider: § 12-1.3-3(b)(2).
